Snapchat launches a desktop app for the first time

Snapchat's features, such as chat and video calling, are coming to computers via a new web app, and this is the first time the company has taken any of its services beyond smartphones.

With Snapchat for Web you can connect to your Snapchat account and send private messages or call your friends through your computer. Initially, the web app will be available exclusively to Snapchat Plus subscribers in the US, UK, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Access will only be through the Chrome browser.

Although Snapchat began as a video-focused messaging app, chief communications officer Nathan Boyd says a web version makes sense because users are increasingly choosing computers to chat. Snapchat for Web offers extra space to text and make calls in the same window, and Snap AR Lenses will be supported soon.

Snap is now positioning itself as an AR platform for its Lenses, but the core of the app is still private ephemeral messaging and calling. The web version of Snapchat puts it in competition with apps like Discord and WhatsApp.

According to Boyd, more than 100 million users each month make calls through Snapchat and spend 30+ minutes a day on them. After all, Snapchat records 332+ million users daily.